Bayern Munich weren't Manchester City's first choice for Joao Cancelo

Joao Cancelo may not have ended up at Bayern Munich at the end of the transfer window, with Manchester City offering him elsewhere first.

He may have dropped out of City's starting line up for a couple of games, but few would have expected Canelo to have left the club for most of last month.

Ever since joining City in 2019, the full back had become an absolutely integral part of Pep Guardiola's all conquering side, as attacking full backs usually do for the manager.

However, according to the reports, a falling out with Guardiola, after losing his place in the first team, led to the former Juventus star leaving at the end of the winter window.

Cancelo's move to Bayern didn't take too long to seem like the perfect move for all involved, taking just 17 minutes on debut for him to set up a goal.

The move is currently on a loan basis but could be made into a permanent deal come the end of the season, if the German's bid the agreed amount.

However, the right-back could have ended up elsewhere, as he was actually offered out to a different club before Bayern got involved.

According to Fabrizio Romano, speaking on his Caught Offside Podcast, Real Madrid were given the chance to sign the 28-year-old.

"Barcelona was almost impossible because of the salary of the player," Romano said, "Real Madrid was also an option, but they decided not to sign any players in January."

Cancelo impressed on debut. Image: Alamy

Real may somewhat regret the decision not to sign the City star already, after Eder Militao went off injured in the game against Valencia.

Whilst the defender was playing at centre back at the time, Militao can also play on the right and might have been an option for the upcoming Champions League game with Liverpool.

The club's chances of defending their title would no doubt have been improved by signing Cancelo, who will instead be trying to help Bayern win it, and could still come up against his parent club later in the competition as the same rules don't apply around that as they do in the Champions League.

It's no surprise that Romano said Barcelona didn't have the money to sign the defender, considering their finances stopped them getting another loan player in.

Xavi was attempting to sign a player in Canelo's position on deadline day however, but managed to miss out on them by just 18 seconds, due to a computer issue.

Topics: Manchester City, Manchester City Transfer News & Rumours, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, La Liga, Bundesliga, Transfers, Joao Cancelo

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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